Yesterday, when I was young The taste of life was sweet as rain upon my tongue I teased at life as if it were a foolish game The way the evening breeze may tease a candle flame The thousand dreams I dreamed The splendid things I planned I always built, alas On weak and shifting sand I lived by night and shunned the naked light of day And only now I see how the years ran away Yesterday, when I was young So many drinking songs were waiting to be sung So many wayward pleasures lay in store for me And so much pain my dazzled eyes refused to see I ran so fast at time and youth at last ran out I never stopped to think what life was all about And every conversation I can now recall concerned itself with me Me and nothing else at all There are so many songs in me that won't be sung I feel the bitter taste of tears upon my tongue The time has come for me to pay For yesterday, when I was young